M C C F U L L T I M E S C H O O L 8 6 0 1 N . M E N A R D S T . M O R T O N G R O V E , I L 6 0 0 5 3 8 4 7 - 4 7 0 - 8 8 0 1 W W W . M C C F T S . O R G N E W S L E T T E R E D I T O R : J I L L A L A L I J I L L _ A L A L I @ Y A H O O . C O M MCCFTS News

M A Y 2 0 1 3 V O L U M E 5 , I S S U E 7 K E Y D A T E S :

May 6-10 - TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK!

May 7 (9 am or 6:45pm) - "Positive Parenting Skills" Seminar

May 1-31 - MAP Testing

May 13-June 5 - Ali Tai's Fitness for Kids program (Gr.1st - 4th)

May 20-24 - Spirit Week

May 22 - Parent Potluck Brunch presented by PSG

May 29 - Jr. Achievement

May 30 (5pm) - Islamic Scientists Plays at the Morton Grove Library

helped me create personal and close connections to many of the teachers and students. Later in high school, I made a conscious effort to create close ties with my teachers because through my experience at MCCFTS I understood how these types of close relations can help advance my education and enhance my high school career.

The caring and helpful environment at MCCFTS taught me at a young age to help others. I remember how all the students in my classes at MCCFTS always wanted to help out the teachers and tutor other students in our free time. These experiences led me to make volun-teer work a big part of my high school years. Over these past few years at high school, I have volun-teered and raised money for many

Sarra Wahdan, In Her Own Words:

My experience at MCC Full Time School was definitely unforgettable due to the fact that I spent more than half of my life there. Ever since Kindergarten, the rules and values of MCCFTS shaped my personality and way of life. One of the most meaningful aspects of my time at MCCFTS was learning Islamic Stud-ies, Quran, Arabic, and Islamic History for nine years because those classes taught me the im-portance and greatness of our reli-gion. The knowledge gained from Quran, Arabic, and Islamic Studies classes is something that can never be replaced because those subjects are not typically taught at other schools.

During my days at MCCFTS there was a relatively small student body and small group of faculty com-pared to a public school. This

charities. No matter how many years of school I will experience in

the future, the knowledge I gained from MCCFTS has left a permanent imprint on my education. National Honor Society Overview:

Sarra Wahdan was born in Chicago, Illinois. She attended MCC Full Time School from first to eighth grade. During her four years at Niles North,

Sarra has committed a large amount of her time doing volunteer work. Sarra has volunteered with many chari-ties and at many events such as Expanding Lives, Refugee One, Special Gifts Theater, Rustic Falls, Skokie Backlot Bash, Rock for Kids, and many more. Sarra is a member of WHO (We Help Others) Club and is on the Executive Board for Dance Marathon which is District 219's charity and service organization. Sarra has learned a lot about the importance of helping others and has gained leadership and team building skills through service work experiences. Sarra plans on continuing with her volunteer work after high school. Ever since middle school, Sarra has always enjoyed mathematics and plans on studying mathematics along with paralegal studies at University of Illinois - Chicago, where she recently was awarded a full academic scholarship. Sarra hopes to be able to make a difference with her volunteer work and college majors in the future.

Catching up with Alumni: Sarra Wahdan Wins Full Scholarship to UIC!

"Show

forgiveness, enjoin

what is good, and

turn away from

the foolish."

Quran, 7:199 MCCFTS Launches "Parent Academy" In hopes of assisting parents in the great task of raising their children, we are pleased to announce a new effort we are calling "Parent Acade-my" in which we will present a series of seminars designed to pre-sent information and tools that can help parents do their most im-portant jobs.

Our first seminar takes place on

Tuesday, May 7, titled "Positive Parenting Skills" presented by MCCFTS Counselor Maryah Qureshi. For your convenience, we will be offering two opportunities to attend the lecture: 9-10 a.m. or 6:45-7:45 p.m. Maryah will be dis-cussing different parenting styles, their pros and cons, and will also present ome different disciplining

techniques for addressing children's non-compliant behaviors.

Maryah Qureshi is a Licensed Marital and Family Therapist. A Chicago native, Maryah earned her Bachelor of Arts degrees in Economics and Public Policy from the University of Chicago and her Master of Science degree in Marital and Family Therapy from Northwestern University. In recognition of her past service and contin-ued commitment to addressing the needs of under-served communities, the American Association for Marital Family Therapy (AAMFT) honored Maryah with the 2009 AAMFT Minority Fellowship Award. Maryah can be reached at maryahqureshi.lmft@gmail.com.

P A G E 2

Quran Competition Brings Promise of Barakat Big Prizes Awarded Blessings descended upon our school last month as numerous students par-ticipated in the annual Quran competition with recitation of the holy Quran taking place con-tinuously throughout the day. Principal Mr. Quadri reminded the children of the barakat and great reward promised by Allah (swt) with each and every word of the Quran that is recited. Both boys and girls in grades 3rd-8th, including the Hifth pro-gram, competed in the categories of memoriza-tion and tilawah. We were pleased and thankful of the time given over to the competition by our judges, Hafiz Faiz Baiaba-ni, Hafiz Ikhlas with the Iqra Foundation, Hafiz Mustafa Ahmed, a teacher at the MCC sunday school, Shaikh Hicham,

the MCC Imam, and Mau-lana Mubeen Kamani.

Thanks to generous mon-etary donations from the community, organizers awarded fantastic cash prizes to students. Iqra Foundation donated books and bags that were also given to the winners. Elementary kids received: 1st, $75; 2nd, $50; and 3rd, $30. Middle School and Hifth students re-ceived: 1st, $100; 2nd, $70; 3rd, $50; and Hon-orable Mention, $20. Students with the highest points from each class will go onto the Sunday School Qirat Competi-tion on April 28 at MEC.

Mabrook to the following winners:

Eiman Ali Naveed, Osman Muhammad, Hira khan, Rahma Hassan, Safoora Salman, Eiman Ali Navid, Aisha Aziz, Abdel Muizz Muhsi, Adil Choubkha, Mina Jabrah, Sana Majid,

were professionally formatted. Kids typed their letters know-ing that this professional for-mat was a skill they will contin-ue to practice in their future educational and professional careers. Most of the letters were sent to people within the United States, but a few were mailed to as far as India, Dubai and Pakistan. Before the letters were mailed, the kids also properly labeled, sealed, and packaged their envelopes for

Master Letter Writers

Mrs. Gomaa always aims to teach her 5th Grade students skills that will stick with them for life. This month, during their combined Language Arts and Writing classes students became masters in writing professional letters. Students chose close family members, relatives, and friends from around the world for whom they sent friendly letters that

M C C F T S N E W S

Mrs. Gomaa - 5th Grade

the very first time. Kids are now eagerly awaiting friendly responses from their family and friends around the world.

Yasir Hassan, Aden Ab-dirrahman, Sundus Wahdan, Imran Hassan, Maumuna Zafar, Noor Al Yousef, Haris Qazi, Yasir Hssan, Imran Hassn, Muoaad Kerrada, Aden Abedirrhaman, Iqra Ansa-ri, Amina Yousuf, Noor AlYousef, Faisal Patel, Hamza Umar, Omar Alali, Mubashir Ahmed, Osman Mohammed, Arman Khan

Each year this competi-tion incurs significant costs, upwards of $2,000. Mrs. Musleh, who leads the charge for this com-petition annually, appreci-ates your kind donations towards this endeavor. Please take this oppor-tunity to receive the barakat of Allah (swt) and submit your donations anytime throughout the year directly to her and she will earmark it for the next competition. JazakAllahkhair for your duas and support!

Teacher Appreciation Week

May 6-10

“JazakAllah Khay-run to all of the

MCCFTS Teachers and Staff for their hard work, dedica-tion and resource-

fulness.”

— with much appreciation from

the MCCFTS Council Members

Art Workshop Fun & Educational P A G E 3 V O L U M E 5 , I S S U E 7

Children reveled in the day's activi-ties at the first-ever "Create Like the Masters" Children's Hands-on Art Workshop event sponsored by the MCCFTS Parent Support Group on Saturday, April 13. Near-ly 150 children attended the work-shop where they participated in two different classes of their choice to learn about and create their own art projects modeled after famous art masters and techniques. Fea-tured artists and techniques includ-ed the impressionism of Monet, Matisse's collage work, Van Gogh's thick brushstroke painting, Arabic calligraphy, soft pastels, blown glass art inspired by Dale Chiully's mod-ern glass sculpture, the art of Me-

hendi, Origami, and charcoal illus-tration.

We are thankful to all of our volun-teer art teachers who really brought this event to life including Nazia Baig, Shabnam Mahmood, Sajid Afzal, Ayman Ghaibeh, Andrea Mounadi, Khadija Ahmed, Abeer Saleh, Aisha Amin, Nazneen Nan-goli, and Afreen Ahmed. Many thanks to our business sponsors Rayaan Mediterranean Food, Cou-ture Swim N' Sport, Babylon Salon, and Chic Decor.

The Morton Grove Champion cov-ered the event for their publication.

to complete all five prayers each day. As an incentive to achieve this daily goal, each child who prays 4 or more prayers each day can enjoy seeing a plaque with their name on the bulletin that hangs in the com-puter lab. They also earn home-work passes! MashAllah, what a lofty and beautiful aspiration by these students!

Awash in Productivity and Creativity! Mrs. Patel's third-graders have been busy with creative art pro-jects.Come admire their beautiful artwork of "Creative Hands" deco-rating the back staircase going to the second floor. Additionally, Mrs Patel's students are trying very hard

learned about solids, liquids, and gases. Her reading group created a mural about MCCFTS to reinforce the story, "The School Mural." As well, our second-graders were thrilled to became published au-thors of their autobiographies in a book displaying students' writing skills learned throughout the year. Besides learning all these concepts,

Students Busy with

Exciting Tasks For Second Grade Teacher Mrs. Sheikh it is hard to believe that 4th quarter has started and the year is soon to end. Her second-graders have been busy learning about im-portant monuments located in the United States. In Science, children

Mrs. Shaikh - 2nd Grade

Mrs. Patel - 3rd Grade

children have been practicing for the IOWA Tests. This has been an enjoya-ble and produc-tive year for the children and for Mrs. Sheikh, mashAllah!

P A G E 4

Mrs. Baig - 2nd grade

Arabic Teachers Keep Students Striving guage. Throughout the school samples of homework assign-ments and projects display students' Arabic skills giving parents a glimpse into the work our kids do as they pass into higher levels of proficiency with the language.

For example, Ms. Ilham has students in both Fifth Grade A and Middle School Level 5 working hard on their writing skills. They are practicing using the newly learned vocabulary words as well as older ones in their writing by applying newly learned grammatical rules. They are already writing para-graphs as well as short stories at this level.

In Mrs. Yusuf's Arabic Level 3 classes, which includes 6th, 7th, and 8th grades, created a sculpture to represent differ-ent rooms and items within the school. Students were divided into groups of five, each group consisting of four students. They needed to pre-sent their project to the class by speaking in Arabic about the details of their sculpture. Students were required to use at least 10 words from the lesson and use those words in

Come Check out Student Work Displayed about the School

Our Arabic Department teach-ers are always looking for cre-ative ways to actively engage students with the Arabic lan-

a complete sentence. The en-tire presentation was recorded so they could then view their work and see their accom-plishments.

Mrs. Khawla and Mrs. Musa finished reading in Arabic the story "The Red Hen" with our 1st graders. Afterwards chil-dren did a project relating to the story. They planted wheat seeds just as the Red Hen did using foam cups and cotton balls as the basis for this mini-gardening project. Their efforts worked wonderfully and the kids were excited to see their seeds growing just like in the story they read.

In Fourth Grade, students have been learning about profes-sions in their Arabic class. Students used their writing skills to write about the pro-fession of their choice. They also had the chance to use their cognitive skills to talk about their professions. Please take a look at their projects in the upstairs hallway leading to Middle School.

M C C F T S N E W S

We Feel about MCC."

Students were encouraged to think outside the box, be creative, and together they did some criti-cal brainstorming. One of the students contributed, "MCC is a sweet treat" and illustrated can-dies falling from the sky. Another student wrote "MCC is out of this world" and illustrated a picture of the world.

Feeling Great about MCCFTS Mrs. Baig's second-graders read a story titled "The School Mural." They learned a mural is a big pic-ture generally on a wall that is usu-ally created by a group of people. Inspired by this story, students created their our own mural. They worked together and came up with ideas relating to the theme "How

SAVE THE DATE: Parent Potluck

Brunch

May 22 8:30 a.m.

P A G E 5 V O L U M E 5 , I S S U E 7

(see below for details). We are looking for parents to bring in a food item to go along with the theme for each of the following days:

Monday, May 6 - Breakfast

Wednesday, May 8 - Lunch

Friday, May 10 - Sweets or Savories

Please fill out sign up sheets and

There are lots of exciting volunteer activities taking place yet this year. Please consider volunteering your time to help with the following:

Teacher Appreciation Week

May 6-10

On Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the week of May 6-10, par-ents will sponsor exciting special treats for the teachers and staff

turn into the PSG mailbox in the school office.

__________________________

Parent Potluck Brunch

May 22, 8:30 a.m. - 10 a.m.

Bring your favorite breakfast food item to share and enjoy a morning discussing the highlights of another wonderful school year at MCCFTS

PSG Update—Please Attend Weekly Meetings Weds. 8:30 a.m.

Ms. Sanna Khan - Middle School Students Rejoice over Constitution Exam Results

All of our 8th-graders found themselves victorious! Ma-shAllah!

Here was the immediate reaction from a few of the boys when they found out they had passed the exam: Mustafa Khan, Rowem Sind-hu, Yasir Hassan, Nauman Ahmed, and Zakaria Moin.

Mrs. Mohammed - 1st Grade Mrs. Mohammed's 1st-grade students have been working very hard on writing a fanta-sy story. In math, students have been learning all about picture graphs and bar graphs. Students created their own graphs by collect-ing data about the favorite ice cream flavor of their peers. They have also col-lected and recorded data using pictures by randomly selecting cubes from a con-tainer.

Mrs. Butul students have been focusing on positional words. Kindergarteners brought to life the prepositions: underneath, beside, on top of, inside, outside, in front of, behind, etc... They gave each other directions to get around the classroom using these words. See where they ended up in the photo above. Can you find your Kindergartener?

In Reading, in order to better understand that compound words are two small words that make a larger word, kids made up their own nonsensical compound words to invent new words! Then, they had to draw what their new words meant. Their creative minds came up with some funny and interesting new words such as pencrayons, appleflies, butter-trees, and many others.

They also read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle and did a corresponding art project.

Mrs. Butul - Kindergarten

future of Singapore. This concern is worldwide so the aim of the conference was to focus on best practices happen-ing all throughout the world.

What areas were you present-ing? Mashallah, there were various topics in which we were asked to give our input, including:

Integrated Islamic education: Con-cept and Content

The role and responsibility of reli-gious scholars in the modern world

Integration of knowledge: curricu-lum and instructions

Curriculum framework: under-standing by design (UbD) as a platform for integration

Integrated and holistic Islamic education curriculum

My focus areas were those in which I've done most of my research and writing, including: Introduction of new content or subjects; Change in the medium of instruction; Integration of Islamic, social and empirical sciences; Employment of modern pedagogies and new assess-ment methods; Revision of development of new teaching and learning materials; Strong emphasis on Islam and social issues. These are concepts I've highlight-ed in some of the books I published and articles I've written over the years.

Principal Mr. Quadri Shares his Experience

Recently MCCFTS Principal Habeeb Quadri was invited to Singapore by the Islamic Religious Coun-cil of Singapore, a govern-ment affiliate, to contribute ideas and comments on how to better prepare for the future students of mad-rasah (Islam-based) schools.We asked Mr. Quadri to share with us his experiences at this confer-ence:

Is there a big Muslim presence in Singapore? There are 5 million people in Singapore. Singapore has the second largest population of Muslims of any country.

Approximately how many Is-lamic schools do they have in Singapore? They have 7 full time Madrasah (Islamic schools) and 40 weekend schools.

How was your trip? Alhamdulillah, I visited 5 schools and met the educators and students at these schools. I gave several lectures before the main confer-ence.

What other educators or minis-try officials from other countries were in attendance? Conference of

Madrasah Education includes represent-atives from Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa, England, Egypt, Pakistan, and a few other countries.

What is the purpose of the confer-ence? Ma-shAllah, right now throughout the Muslim world we have we have many madrasah schools serving students in

grades K-12, and even at the college level. These schools are developing alims in great number. In Singapore and also other countries, while madrasahs have been very successful in producing gradu-ates to meet the existing needs of Mus-lim communities, the changing de-mographics and emerging issues of secular concern has highlighted the need for these schools to better prepare students to be able to address these more worldly challenges. The conference pointed out that current curriculum, pedagogy, assessment methods, teacher training and student development pro-grams may not be adequate enough to produce the kind of madrasah students ready to effectively play their role in the

MCCFTS Influences Islamic School Conference in Singapore

JazakAllahkhairun to our

Annual Sponsors:

P A G E 6

M C C F T S N E W S